POULTRY FOR PROFIT 31 



pensive than a board floor, and it is so much more 

 sanitary than a dirt floor that it is well worth while. 



4. — Room foe Exercise. — In bad weather this is 

 best secured by the combination scratching shed and 

 roosting house, in which part of the house is open 

 scratching shed and part enclosed roosting quarters, 

 as in Figure 1, or by a model which is quite gen- 

 erally used at state experiment stations and also in 

 the government work. In this house the roosts, 

 with droppings board underneath, occupy half the 

 house, facing the front, and the nests are built under 

 the roosting platform, opening either in front or 

 outside behind the roosts, and the whole floor is 

 covered with scratching litter. In a very rainy cli- 

 mate some such arrangement would be almost a 

 necessity, but for California the roofed scratching 

 pen is ample protection. (Fig. 10). 



5. — Simplicity op Construction. — The simpler 

 the construction of the poultry house, the better. 

 Both economy and cleanliness make this desirable. 

 An open front, with some means of letting a current 

 of air through; roosts which are protected from 

 drafts; and some place, inside or out, where the 

 fowls can scratch in all weathers; these are the re- 

 quirements of a poultry house for the comfort of 

 the fowls. Add to these movable roosts and drop- 

 pings boards, so that each may be taken out and 

 washed with disinfectant, and you have all that is 

 necessary. Four square feet per fowl must be al- 

 lowed when the scratching pen is inside, but only 

 two square feet if the scratching pen is outside and 

 the birds need the house only for sleeping. A square 

 house is cheaper than any other shape, and a shed 

 roof cheaper than a gable. 



Every house that the attendant is expected to 

 enter should be made sufficiently high for him to 



